


Mrs. Danbush's Tree

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 11:30:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9121546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: How did Blair come to break his arm falling out of Mrs Danbush's tree, and what did Naomi have to say about it?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt belief/disbelief

Mrs. Danbush's Tree

by  Bluewolf

Blair lay unmoving for some moments, puzzled. His last memory was of falling; a sudden, almost unbearable shock as he hit the ground; and then lying, not actually aware of pain but not wanting to move, uncomfortable though the ground was.

Now the ground was inexplicably softer, almost comfortable, though he still didn't want to move. But... at some point he _had_ moved; he was now lying on his back where previously he was sure he been lying on his side.

It was surprisingly difficult to open his eyes - he felt quite drowsy - but he resolutely blinked them open, and mentally nodded. The other boys must have called for help... or maybe not - he wasn't one of them, and by falling from the tree, even though he was sure he hadn't cried out as he fell, he had failed the test that would have let him be accepted by them - or, rather, by their self-appointed leader. So maybe Mrs. Danbush had heard something, come out of her house and found him lying there?

Because - although he had no experience of one - he was pretty sure that the bed he was lying on was in a hospital.

He sighed. Naomi would have a cow. He was in a hospital and she so did not believe in the efficacy of Western medicine.

His eyes drooped shut again, and he slept.

***

When he woke, Blair was feeling much more alert; it was easy to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Naomi sitting beside his bed.

She was instantly award of his opening eyes. "Sweetie!" she exclaimed. £How are you feeling?"

He considered that for a moment. "Not too bad... but I'm sorry... "

"Sorry?" she asked.

"I didn't mean to fall out of Mrs. Danbush's tree... but the branch I was using for balance broke." Odd that he suddenly remembered that.

"The other boys dared you to climb it, didn't they?"

Blair gave a reluctant nod.

"Mrs. Danbush saw them running away, and wondered why, so she went out to  check. She's been aware for a while that they've been using her tree as a... well, challenge, and wasn't happy about it; as soon as she called an ambulance and let me know what had happened she phoned a tree surgeon and it's already been cut down."

"Oh. The others'll blame me for that," Blair muttered.

"Possibly, but we're leaving as soon as the doctor lets you out of hospital. He'll give me a letter to take to a doctor wherever we end up - I was thinking maybe somewhere in Wisconsin?"

"But what about Dave?"

"Well, I'll be sorry to leave him, but he won't move away from here and I don't really like here very much - I wouldn't have stayed more than two or three days if I hadn't met him... and if we hadn't stayed, you wouldn't have a broken arm."

_A broken arm?_ Blair hadn't realized that, if only because Naomi had taken up all his attention since he woke. _That's probably why she isn't freaking out over me being in hospital. A cast is better than a splint._ He could remember a child he had seen in India whose broken arm had been splinted, and how easy it had been for him to knock it against something with agonising results - the splint had supported it without protecting it.

He was in the hospital for another two days, and when Naomi collected him, she had her bag - and his - in the car. And as she drove away, he didn't once look back.

_Wisconsin - here we come!_

Or maybe not. Blair had learned years before that Naomi's plans could change at the drop of a hat. But at least he was away from Tom Cooper and his sycophantic followers, who probably hated the guy but were all too terrified of Tom's unpredictable temper to oppose him in any way. Heck, he had only tried to climb that tree because of his belief that if he refused Tom would encourage - even order - the others to beat him up. He had guessed that if he tried and failed he would be ignored... but even as self-sufficient as he was, Blair knew he wanted to be on friendly terms with the other boys where he lived, even though he knew that Naomi would inevitably move on and he wasn't likely to see them ever again.

He grinned. At least in future Tom would never be able to bully anyone into climbing a tree that was really too dangerous to be climbed. And that alone was worth a broken arm.

He settled a little more comfortably in his seat and watched the scenery as it passed, thinking that it would be nice if, just once, Naomi followed through on a plan and they did end up in Wisconsin.

 

 

 


End file.
